Apps SDK and the New Gatekeepers

When OpenAI announced the Apps SDK, most headlines focused on the “what”, which is that developers can now build apps directly inside ChatGPT. While that’s interesting, it’s only a surface view of what this announcement is. What’s happening is bigger than a new API or a shiny developer tool. It’s the birth of a new software layer, one that lives inside the interface millions of people already use every day.

Until now, ChatGPT was a destination; a product you visited. With the Apps SDK, it becomes an environment. A place where products can exist within another product. And for you, us, and many, that changes everything about distribution, discovery, and ownership.

Because when the interface itself becomes the platform, the rules shift. Users aren’t just downloading apps or visiting websites anymore. They’re summoning them. Instantly. Through context, conversation, and intent.

It’s the dream many software companies have chased for years: frictionless access, immediate relevance, with no onboarding hurdles. But, like all dreams in tech, it comes with fine print.

This might look like the next frontier of opportunity. It also looks a lot like history repeating itself.

Blog Summary:

Every few years, a new platform changes the rules. OpenAI’s Apps SDK might be that moment for this decade. That’s why in this post, we’ll analyze:

Why the Apps SDK represents more than just another integration point.
How it could redefine visibility, ownership, and user relationships.
The trade-offs that come with freedom inside a closed ecosystem.
What founders should do now to move fast.

Software development screen — Close-up of a computer monitor displaying source code

We’ve Been Here Before

If all of this feels familiar, that’s because it is. We’ve seen the cycle of new platforms opening the gates, inviting developers in, and promising reach beyond imagination before. And for a while, they deliver exactly that.

Apple did it with the App Store. Google followed with Play. Both started as revolutions in accessibility. Anyone could build. Anyone could publish. The barriers to entry vanished almost overnight. But as those ecosystems matured, so did the rules. What began as open turned selective. What began as empowering turned conditional.

The Apps SDK follows that same arc. It democratizes creation inside ChatGPT, but it also defines the boundaries of what’s possible. Distribution is now about who decides what gets seen, not just about who can build.

None of this makes OpenAI the villain. It’s simply what happens when a platform becomes infrastructure. It’s not like gatekeeping is always intentional. Sometimes it’s just a byproduct of scale. Still, it’s worth remembering that every revolution in software eventually faces the same test: how much control are you willing to trade for access?

What the Apps SDK Unlocks

For all the debate about what this means strategically, it’s worth pausing to see what the Apps SDK does. Like we mentioned, this framework lets developers build fully interactive experiences inside ChatGPT: apps that can persist state, authenticate users, and connect to external APIs, all through a conversational interface.

In practice, that means the distance between asking and doing is shrinking fast. A user can start a conversation, trigger an app, and get results within the same flow. From a product standpoint, that’s massive. We can now build tools that live where users already are, not where they have to go.

The Apps SDK also opens the door for what we might call “layered intelligence.” Apps can now combine reasoning from ChatGPT with the specialized logic of external systems. A budgeting app could reason through financial goals conversationally, then execute real transactions through connected APIs.

It’s a small set of technical primitives with wide implications. Persistent memory, function calling, and shared context might sound routine, but together they represent a shift from AI as feature to AI as environment. And that’s the real unlock here.

Why Founders Should Care

If you’re building or leading a product, the Apps SDK isn’t just another piece of developer news. For the last decade, distribution has been about owning the channel (websites, app stores, integrations). The Apps SDK introduces something different: a layer where interaction itself becomes the channel. The conversation is now the UI, and the host platform controls that surface.

That matters. Because when users find and use your product inside ChatGPT, you don’t own that interaction anymore. You’re renting it. The same way mobile apps rely on iOS and Android for visibility, SDK apps will depend on OpenAI’s ecosystem for discovery, permissions, and trust.

This is a new dependency we need to understand early. The trade-off is straightforward: speed and reach in exchange for control. You gain frictionless access to an existing audience, but you operate under someone else’s framework.

That’s the real story you might want to be focusing on. The Apps SDK creates opportunity, but it also changes leverage. If ChatGPT becomes the interface people trust most, it decides what gets surfaced, how often, and on whose terms.

Empty warehouse — Interior of a large empty warehouse symbolizing the freedom inside someone else’s walls

Freedom… Inside Walls

Every platform starts with an open invitation. The pitch is always the same: build freely, reach more users, move faster. And that’s true. Usually. For a while. The tools feel empowering, the barriers are low, and the ecosystem rewards early adopters.

But freedom inside a closed platform is still conditional. Eventually, the platform defines the limits. That's through policies, pricing, and visibility. Apple did it with payments. Google did it with search ranking. Now OpenAI holds a similar position with access to users inside ChatGPT.

The Apps SDK gives you creative freedom, but not structural freedom. You can design, build, and iterate. You can’t decide how your app is recommended, how it’s ranked, or whether it stays visible when priorities shift. And when that happens, your product’s destiny depends on decisions made somewhere else.

This doesn’t mean you should avoid the SDK. It just means they should enter with eyes open. Platforms are powerful partners until they’re not. The more you rely on one, the more leverage you hand over when the terms inevitably change.

Designing for Flexibility

If you’re tempted to start building on the Apps SDK right now, you’re not alone. Everyone’s seeing the same fresh surface, early attention, and chance to be first. That energy is good. You should lean into it. Just not blindly.

The real opportunity isn’t in being early; it’s in being adaptable. Because what’s true about every new platform is that the rules change faster than the hype fades. What looks like a shortcut today can quietly become a constraint six months from now.

So yes, experiment. Build. Test how your product fits inside ChatGPT. But do it in a way that keeps your independence intact. Keep your logic, your data, and your identity outside the Apps SDK. Let it be a new channel, not the only one.

If your app works beautifully inside ChatGPT, great. But make sure it also works outside it. Like on your site, through your API, and in other interfaces. That’s how you keep optionality alive.

What to Watch For

The Apps SDK is still in its early days, but the speed at which platforms like this mature is always faster than we expect. The rules evolve quietly, and by the time they’re written down, they’re already shaping how products compete for visibility. Instead of trying to predict every move, it’s smarter to know what to watch for.

The first one is discovery. At some point, OpenAI will need to decide how users find apps inside ChatGPT. That might come through recommendations, ranking, or a marketplace. However it appears, that system becomes the real interface between you and your audience. When that layer arrives, start paying close attention to what drives visibility: usage, ratings, brand reputation, or partnership status. Once discovery is algorithmic, your success depends less on product quality and more on how the platform defines relevance.

The second is monetization. Right now, everything feels open and free. But history suggests that won’t last. Eventually, OpenAI will introduce pricing structures for SDK usage, higher tiers for visibility, or revenue sharing for commercial apps. None of that is bad, but it changes the math for anyone building on top. If your model depends on free access or unmetered API calls, start designing a version that works when costs appear.

The third is data. As ChatGPT becomes the main surface for interaction, the question of who owns user insights will matter more than anything else. You’ll probably get basic analytics through the Apps SDK, but don’t expect full transparency. The more valuable the platform becomes, the less it shares. Define early what you need to measure and where you’ll measure it.

Owning the Interface

The Apps SDK will keep evolving, and so will the rules around it. That’s how every platform grows. But underneath all the changes, one thing doesn’t move: ownership. You can give up a layer of control, but not your responsibility to design how people experience your product. That’s still yours.

Platforms define access, not value. They decide who gets seen, but not who gets trusted. If your app consistently delivers clarity, speed, and relevance, users will remember it. Even when they discover it through someone else’s interface.

So build for this new environment, but build with intent. Experiment with the Apps SDK, learn its limits, and push what’s possible inside ChatGPT. Just make sure you’re doing it with partners who know how to balance innovation with independence.

That being said, we help companies build for flexibility with products that can live anywhere, connect to everything, and still feel unmistakably yours. If you’re exploring what the Apps SDK could mean for your business, let’s talk. The window for early advantage is open, but the real opportunity lies in keeping control of how you grow inside it.

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